Chapter Text
Not all is well – at least not immediately. Harry works with the Order of the Phoenix to use his influence as the Defeater of Voldemort to clean out Death Eater sympathizers and corrupt officials from the Ministry. Making Mad-Eye Moody the head of the DMLE probably helps with that. Shacklebolt spends six months as Interim Minister before an election confirms his role on a permanent basis.
Harry and Hermione don’t bother returning for their last few months of school, but they do take their NEWTs with their classmates. Harry, Hermione, and Neville are all offered fast-tracked Auror positions by Head Auror Tonks, though only Hermione accepts. She also takes on a part-time role as a political advisor to Minister Shacklebolt, using her influence and her mind to champion the rights of muggleborns and non-human magicals. Harry knows that fighting against injustice will make his girlfriend very, very happy.
Neville takes on a position in the Wizengamot to help drive out the Death Eaters’ political influence, as well as an apprenticeship with Professor Sprout in Herbology. He’s glad to see his fellow prophecy child pursue his true passion.
Harry applies for the position of Defense Professor and is accepted. (He could really get any job as the Defeater of Voldemort, but his credentials for this role are excellent even without that.) Teaching the DA is one of Harry’s fondest memories, and despite all the hurts he’s suffered there, Hogwarts remains the place he feels most at home. He looks forward to helping his students become the strongest wizards and witches they can be.
Severus Snape receives a pardon thanks to Neville’s testimony that his role as a spy was critical to defeating Voldemort. He leaves Hogwarts to start a private potions shop, but before he does, he approaches Harry to tell him about how he loved Harry’s mother and begged for her life. Harry can’t find it in himself to forgive the man, especially knowing that he gave Voldemort the partial prophecy that led to his parents’ deaths.
“If you loved Lily Evans so much,” Harry asks, “why did you not in seven years show her son a scrap of kindness?”
Harry realizes that Snape only ever saw the son of James Potter, his hated bully. Harry never sees the man again, which is as both of them wish.
On the night that they receive their NEWT results, Harry proposes to Hermione. The Minister personally marries them soon after the election, one of his first official acts as non-Interim Minister. Hermione’s parents come from Australia to attend but depart afterward. They’ve made a good life there. Hermione and Harry plan to visit regularly.
Some rumors pop up that Harry is trying to become a Dark Lord to replace Voldemort. Harry and Neville make a joint public appearance with Neville bearing the Sword of Gryffindor and Harry bearing the Elder Wand. They tell the world that everything Harry did, up to and including his seeming death and resurrection, was part of Dumbledore’s plan to defeat Voldemort, and that Harry has no plans to claim power. To prove their point, they display Hermione’s memory of Dumbledore’s death – “Harry… despite everything that’s been done to him, he’s a good boy. If he has the chance, he will change the world…” – and Harry publicly snaps the Elder Wand.
(It’s a replica, actually. He gives mastery of the real one back to Hermione, who wielded it far better than Harry ever did.)
The afternoon before the students arrive, Harry asks Headmistress McGonagall to leave him alone in her office for an hour. She might think Harry wants to talk to Dumbledore’s portrait, but the Resurrection Stone is far better. (The Stone is not currently in his possession but hidden in a long-abandoned acromantula lair so that Harry can avoid the temptation. Only he, Hagrid, and a bunch of dead spiders know of that particular location, so it ought to be fairly safe.)
No, there’s another magical artifact he needs to have words with.
“Seven years, Sorting Hat. And here we are.” He doesn’t put the Hat on; it doesn’t need to see inside his head again.
“I said you were Slytherin, and you proved me right,” it says. “You’re ruthless, you’re cunning, you trust cautiously, and until recently, you pursued a grand ambition – the end of a terrible Dark Lord.”
“I still think you made a mistake putting me in Slytherin.”
“How? Why? You have every trait of Slytherin House in spades.”
“Only because I was forced to have them,” Harry says. “I’m ruthless because I was almost never shown kindness or mercy, not by my fellow Slytherins, not by my fellow students, not by the wizarding world at large. I’m cunning because without cunning, I would have been forced to endure seven years of increasingly harsh bullying, which probably would have killed or maimed me at some point. I trust cautiously because Ron Weasley, my first friend my own age, betrayed me, and he betrayed me because of where you put me!
“As for ambition, my ambition was never grand. At first, I wanted self-determination. Then, I wanted to protect Hermione and myself. When the war began and I learned the prophecy, all I wanted to do was survive. Everything I did – killing the basilisk, winning the tournament, hunting the horcruxes, defeating Voldemort – all of that was in pursuit of those small goals.
“But most of all, I am not really a Slytherin because the students and teachers of Slytherin House never once accepted me. When people thought me the Heir, they didn’t really want me; when Slughorn liked me, it was just to collect my fame and power. No, Slytherin never wanted me and I never wanted Slytherin, not on the day I was sorted and not in any of the seven years since that day.”
The Sorting Hat is silent for a while.
“You know, I’m not sure why I’m even saying all this to you. For all that you can speak and read minds, you’re just an old enchanted hat.”
“If not Slytherin, where could I have placed you?”
“You could have made me a Gryffindor – I could have stayed friends with Ron Weasley, gotten to know Neville and Hermione earlier. I would have been happier.”
“But would you have become as strong? Would your path to defeating Tom Riddle have been even more difficult in red and gold?”
“Then you could have made me a Ravenclaw. I would still probably have gotten to know Hermione as a fellow bookworm. I would have been able to defend Luna from her bullies from the start. And people wouldn’t have looked at me like the second coming of Voldemort from day one.”
“Your studiousness was forced on you by necessity and by Miss Granger in your first few years,” the Hat counters. “No, you weren’t Ravenclaw material back then, and that house wouldn’t have been any more supportive of you than Slytherin was. It’s one of the Eagles’ faults, you know, that it’s often every wizard for himself.”
“Hufflepuff, then?”
“A Hufflepuff Harry Potter wouldn’t have been able to save Hermione Granger. He would have been at the Halloween Feast under close watch by the older badgers on the night of his grief.”
“I disagree – I think Hermione and I were fated to meet, one way or another. Besides, you hardly knew about the troll when you sorted me.”
“In Hufflepuff, you would have been supported as you faced your trials and found your strength… But first you would have had to learn to trust. The eleven-year-old boy that I sorted wouldn’t have fit in Helga’s house.”
Harry thinks over the Hat’s arguments for a while. “I stand by my claim that I shouldn’t have been put in Slytherin,” he says, “but I have a new ambition now. I’ve been appointed Deputy Head of Slytherin, since Slughorn wants his duties reduced. I’ll force Slytherin House to become less about bigotry and hatred and more about ambition and cunning, as it’s supposed to be. We need to stop teaching children that eleven-year-olds are evil the second their robes turn green. Not all of my housemates ended up going Death Eater. Even Draco Malfoy could have turned out better if Snape hadn’t enabled him for six years. I’ll improve things so that the next poor kid you throw into Slytherin House doesn’t have to experience what I did.”
“It’s a worthy goal,” the Hat says, ignoring Harry’s disdain for it.
“I’m glad you think so, since I’m hoping you’ll help.”
A few hours later, Harry smiles at Ginny and Luna (who is now Head Girl) as they take their seats, and he watches the first years file in in uncolored robes, and the Sorting Hat begins to sing…
It’s been a year since I last sang, and I have much to say.
The Light has triumphed in the war, the Dark Lord’s gone away.
I look towards the future, so this never happens again,
And though I’m just the Sorting Hat, I’ll do what I can.
Four Founders there were long ago, united in one goal.
They built Hogwarts together, four quarters of one whole.
They split their students into four according to the traits
That each one of the Founders thought would make a student great.
Since then, we’ve come to think all evil’s from one place,
Yet the Founders Four would all agree that this is not the case.
The bravery of Gryffindor is something you can wield
To boldly champion Evil or defend Good as its shield.
Ravenclaw’s prized knowledge can be used kind or cruel.
To use their minds well must be every Raven’s rule.
Hufflepuff sought those who practiced loyalty,
But loyal to the wrong person is the worst thing you can be.
And Slytherin ambition, oft directed wrong of late,
Was the thing that built this school and that made Hogwarts great.
Four Founders there were long ago, and yet they stood as one,
And so too must their Houses now that the war is won.
For now’s the time we have a chance to bring a change,
But the unity of Hogwarts one mere hat cannot arrange.
I call upon each one of you, of every House and age
To heed the words I speak, for they are wise and sage:
Allow no prejudice of any kind within these halls.
Seek unity of House and blood while you’re inside these walls.
Don’t let sortings or backgrounds stop you making friends.
I’ve said all that I can, so let the Sorting now commence!